iPhone stuck in update mode while installing 4.0.1 to 4.1

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Level 1

8 points

iPhone stuck in update mode while installing 4.0.1 to 4.1

Help!! My iPhone is stuck in update mode from when I tried to update OS 4.0.1 to 4.1. iTunes said there was an error and the installation could not be completed, but it left my iPhone unusable and stuck in update mode. I cannot I repeat cannot do a restore or I will lose vital information that iTunes ***** at (or just doesn't) backing up.

Help please....

Michelle

HP Pavillion, Windows XP Pro

Posted on Sep 20, 2010 12:33 PM

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Answer 1

missesaw Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 20, 2010 2:07 PM in response to missesaw

All else failed to tried Restore, with no success. Restore failed for unknown reason #1608 and Apple has no answer online.

Really...help...please

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Answer 2

CaelanT

Level 1

0 points

Sep 20, 2010 2:43 PM in response to missesaw

I had a similar issue some time ago with my 3GS. Turned out for some reason the computer I was using would screw up my iphone when updating. Only way around it was to use a different computer. Figured this out after I was on the phone with Apple for an hour. I have since formatted the original computer and reinstalled XP Pro, and the issue went away.

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Answer 3

missesaw Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 20, 2010 4:57 PM in response to CaelanT

I just tried it from my laptop which has a different version of Windows and an older version of iTunes (9.2), no joy.

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Answer 4

Sep 20, 2010 5:24 PM in response to missesaw

missesaw wrote:
All else failed to tried Restore, with no success. Restore failed for unknown reason #1608 and Apple has no answer online.

Except for this one: Update and restore alert messages on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

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Answer 5

missesaw Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 20, 2010 5:30 PM in response to missesaw

I resolved my own question. For whomever encounters this trouble in the future:

1) uninstall whatever version of iTunes you are currently running and install an older version...any older version
2) download the last WORKING version of iPhone OS from someone other than Apple (because the attempts to download it from them will fail every time)
3) copy (not move or cut and paste) the downloaded OS to iTunes and also into the "Automatically Load into iTunes" folder
4) choose to Restore your iPhone and it will restore to the OS you just downloaded. You'll lose all your important stuff that iTunes doesn't like to backup, but your iPhone will work once again.

Dear Apple: how about uncontrol-freaking the iPhone so we can actually use it as an external hard drive and be able to properly back it up and restore it without being relegated to the less than tender ministrations of your MP3 loader (READ: iTunes), which is not geared for this type of work, even in the tiniest confines of your imagination.

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Answer 6

missesaw Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 20, 2010 5:39 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Dear Mr. Finch,

When I said that Apple didn't have a resolution for the said error code and the dozens of others they listed in the specific Support article you just posted a link to, I meant that the Support article you just posted a link to (which the error codes also sends you to) did not resolve the issue. Sorry if I was unclear, but if you noticed before you so slyly posted that link -- in the article itself, it says that the noted error messages lead everyone to that particular link....and I had already been there, which you may not have noticed if you didn't read my earlier posts. But thank you for the backup redundancy that Apple, no doubt, thinks very highly of, inexplicably, seeing as it doesn't actually work.

Message was edited by: missesaw

Message was edited by: missesaw

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Answer 7

Sep 20, 2010 6:02 PM in response to missesaw

You did not say it did not resolve the issue for you; you said that Apple +had no answer online+. You did not say that Apple had an answer that did not work. So I directed you to an article that contained an answer. I'm sorry the answer didn't work, but you clearly do not like communicating with me so I will leave it to others to help you resolve the problem.

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